Computers are ubiquitous, and each application running on a computer, generally, has its own look and feel. Some interfaces are well thought out and user-friendly; other interfaces can frustrate the user or customer. This frustration may lead to dissatisfied customers and lost business opportunities. For example, some websites allow small amounts of customer personalization, such as saved customer information and email reminders, while other websites do not allow personalization.
Unfortunately, user interfaces are locked to each application, some good and some bad, rather than adapting the user interface (UI) to the customer's needs. A user may be more comfortable or accustomed to one or more UIs; however, these UI's may only be used with a few applications.
Typically user interfaces do not consider the context of the user when displaying information to the user, nor do the UIs change depending on the context of the transaction. Additionally, many UIs do not consider the application state; therefore, details about the happenings within the application are ignored and often cause the user to flip between application windows to obtain the information they need.